Employee Relations Regional Partner

Technical Manager Level Role Design

Department: Employee Relations | Reports to: Director, HR Employee Relations

Role Summary

The Employee Relations (ER) Regional Partner (Technical Manager) serves as the dedicated, senior-level ER subject-matter expert for a designated operations region. In addition to handling complex escalations and leading workplace investigations, this role takes on a proactive, strategic dimension, coaching regional leaders on progressive discipline before issues escalate, building self-service training and tools, partnering with the HR Service Desk on intake, and owning virtual and in-person connection points with regional operations leadership. The position reports to the Director, Employee Relations, and supports the key initiatives and goals of the department and Company.

Core Employee Relations Responsibilities

• Act as the primary ER point of contact for a designated region, advising on complex escalations including conflict resolution, disciplinary actions, investigations, leaves of absence and accommodations, performance management, and terminations.
• Lead sensitive and complex workplace investigations (discrimination, harassment, retaliation), conducting interviews, collecting evidence, drafting comprehensive reports, and presenting findings and recommendations to the ER Director and leadership.
• Oversee the Report a Concern process through fact-finding and partner with the ER Director to provide appropriate feedback and resolutions to employees.
• Use regional case data to identify trends and potential issues; work with Regional Directors to implement proactive strategies and training.
• Partner with Legal counsel and the ER Director to assess risk and ensure HR practices and decisions are legally sound and compliant with employment laws.
• Embed DEIB principles into everyday regional practices, processes, and policies; stay current on employment law across the region's states and communicate compliance accordingly.
• Conduct and manage doctor exit interviews; synthesize findings and surface retention themes and insights to the ER Director and regional leadership. (Process, timing, and connection points to be defined.)
  
  

Strategic & Proactive Responsibilities

These responsibilities expand the regional role beyond reactive case work into proactive partnership and enablement.

• Proactive progressive-discipline coaching. Coach regional leaders on progressive discipline before situations escalate, rather than only responding once a matter reaches ER.
• Criteria for invoking ER. Communicate clear seriousness criteria that warrant formally engaging Employee Relations, ensuring consistent escalation across the region.
• Virtual and in-person regional connection points. Establish and maintain regular virtual and in-person touchpoints with regional operations leadership. (Format, frequency, and agenda structure to be defined in partnership with ER and Ops leadership.)
• On-site/virtual regional presence. Provide in-person presence in the region for relationship-building and reporting, with additional travel as investigations or escalations require.
• Regional learnings and retrospectives. Capture regional learnings through structured look-backs on what went well and what did not, escalating significant items to Regional Leadership and ER Director.
• Regional trend visibility and reporting. Maintain awareness and reporting of emerging issues, recurring patterns, and areas of risk: including leaves, progressive-discipline statuses, immigration, investigations, provider terminations, retention, training completion, and workers comp.
• Special projects. Lead or participate in special projects as directed by the ER Director.
  
  

Desirable Qualifications

• Knowledge of employment law across multiple states within the assigned region.
• Experience with matter-management and human-capital-management systems (e.g., UKG, Workday).
  
  

Physical Requirements

• Ability to perform essential duties satisfactorily with or without reasonable accommodation. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties of the position
• Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer
• Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times
  
  

We put our people first at Heartland Dental, and that shows in our generous benefits package.

Company retains the sole discretion to change the duties of the position at any time.

We provide all employees and applicants for employment the protections of federal, state, and local laws affording equal opportunity in employment.